Day 8: Howls

Today was another difficult day of walking through mucky and slippery terrain. I wished we could have stayed in the last camp to rest, but no one wants to make the already 6-day walking journey any longer than it already is. The weather has been unpleasant with rain off and on. I am told this is very unusual for these trips. By late afternoon, we reached our fantastic campsite for the night where we can even see the start of the first pass we'll make our way up in the morning. From far away, this site looks like it could not possibly be the least bit flat, but it is surprisingly so, aside from the sections giving in to natural erosion. We can see the nearest village off in the distance.

The guys in charge of the animals tied them up quite a distance from the camp in the crook of the mountain. Right before bed time, they went to light a fire in that area. Why? It keeps wolves away apparently.

We woke in the night to sounds of howls. If you've never heard wolf howls aside from those on your television, you might not be sure if it was a howling dog or wolf. I knew our proximity to the village was too far for those howls to be any dogs. Talk about wanting a tent made of something stronger than fabric! That's when you know you're really out in the boonies!

Day 7: Washing Up

As we packed up from the previous night's camp of terror, we watched hundreds and hundreds of sheep parade around the side of the mountain and through the leftovers of the camp, likely on their way down to the city to be sold and butchered. Our kids loved it! It was like a sea of sheep. On the steep hillside nearby, our horse and the 5 mules grazed nearly out of our sight they had climbed so high. Further still above them was a small herd of a sort of mountain goat. Gorgeous!

We met a man on the trail who had his arm in a sling.  When I asked him what was wrong, he said he fell, and it popped out of socket -- a month ago! He had finally finished his work in the fields so he was now on his way down to seek medical attention. We gave him some ibuprofen to take the edge off, but weren't sure he even needed it at this point.

Today's trail is a washed out in many places due to the rain and softness of the soil. Little Girl is awesome on the horse, but so scary to watch on tiny treacherous trails. At times, I have to just close my eyes. When we reached our campsite for the night, we made sure we were far from the possibility of any falling rocks or debris. We got to have our first outdoor bath in a freezing stream down below the camp. Although it was frigid to the point of being painful, it was refreshing.

Day 6 - The Hedge

Here's the journal entry from September 27th, Day 6 of our trip, and my 31st birthday.

"My birthday. Honestly speaking, worst ever. We walked from about 8:30 until 5:30 where we finally decided on a spot. It was terribly cold, too high, and not flat, but the best we could find before dark settled in. This area has very loose crumbly soil that makes the trail precarious, very much like sliding through ash. We expected a long day today, but I think we walked slower than anticipated. I have a terrible headache, and Little Boy is coming down with something. As we set up camp, mysterious white clouds rolled in. The horse man seems to think it means rain will fall."

That night as I lay in the tent, I recalled how few people we had seen and what a perfect target we would be for marauders (if that is even a thing that happens there!). I prayed, "Lord, would you place an army of angels around this camp? Keep us surrounded and safe." The rain began to sprinkle on our tents after we had gone to sleep or at least attempting to sleep while sliding down to the bottom of the tent. During the night at three specific times, I heard what sounded like a gas stove lighting and thought the animal tenders were cold and making hot water. When we woke in the morning, we knew what the sound really was-- 3 landslides that stopped a small distance from our tents.

As we left that camp with thoughts of what could have been disaster for us all, I remembered the hedge I had prayed for. God put it there not to keep people out, but to keep that gravel from rolling us away. It was a reminder that, though it seemed like the world was a million miles away, He was as close as ever.

Journal Entry: No Sleep!

When you think you're tough, that you're going to be fine because you have to since you can't take medicine for acclimatization, you may be in for a surprise. I have been. Two nights of very restless sleep and only a slight increase in altitude while everyone else snoozed away. While I probably need another day of hiking up then back down, I think we need to start heading out today. It should be a short walk of just a few hours.

Later that day...
How am I going to do this? The walk started out fine and flat along a riverbed, but later became a lot more difficult than I thought it would be starting out. Little Girl is doing well getting used to her horse--still trying to figure out how to self-correct when the saddle is slipping from side to side and how to hold on during uphill and downhill times. Our campsite is idyllic with a little stream running through our patch of trees--the dinging bells of animals in the distance. The kids are so excited to sleep in the tent for the first night. No mosquitoes, tasty first camp meal. I hope tonight will bring better sleep.

Journal Entry: Departure Day

Two days ago we left from our capital city to the town where we would fly to our starting point. We began to practice hiking up to some altitude, but the heat made it miserable. Not my favorite journey and not the best attitude, I must say. Thankfully a great opportunity for team building. Today, we reached the small airport, dropped off a pile of bags, and waited atop the airport to watch several small planes take off, hoping the winds would stay calm enough for us to fly, too. Every 30-40 minutes another little plane took off or returned. Finally, it was our turn.

It was the tiniest plane I had ever been in. No luxury here--except huge handfuls of candy for the kids. Just canvas seats barely padded to break some of the jostling as you bump along the ground. We flew into some of the most incredible mountain sights you've ever seen, wings appearing to be only inches (in reality, feet, I hope) from jagged snowy peaks, all signs of life having disappeared under a blanket of snow and ice. Minutes later we landed in the town with its own little mountain charm. We'll spend two nights here if we all adjust to the altitude okay.

Unpacking

You might wonder why things are so often silent on our blog. It's partly just the distractions of life and partly that sometimes I think our life is so ordinary no one would want to read about it. I mean, the kids and I do homeschool every day together, eat lunch, have rest times (they do...never for mom), eat dinner, and go to bed. The life of a stay-at-home mom overseas is not that much different than that of one anywhere else in the world really. Maybe you would like to know about our daily lives, but sometimes I think no one would want to read about that.

So, to break into the silence, I've been preparing to write about our first family trip to the project area this past fall. I have been waiting to write about it largely because I needed to do some unpacking and debriefing in my head lest I shed a negative light on the place and people we deeply care for. Over the next few weeks, I'll share the results of some of that unpacking, including some entries from my journal as we progressed through the trip. I know my superman of a husband has made this trip numerous times, but doing it alongside him made me realize how incredibly hard it is, even for a fit person. Hope you enjoy reading about it as we unpack. During this process, P.J. has already begun preparing for the next trip in a few months.

A Day in the Life of the International School Teacher

As many of you may know, I have been doing my 16 week student teaching placement in an international school here. Since a number of you are teachers and since I assume most of you went to a school, I thought I'd share a little of what the experience is like in an international school. The school follows a British educational system so it has grades from Kindergarten to Grade 13. Supposedly, children who graduate from a system that goes up to 13 are better prepared to enter the workforce even if they do not go to university right away. In total, the student body numbers just under 200.

For the first 2 months of my practical, I taught in a third grade classroom of 14 wonderful students. Yes, class sizes are incredibly small compared to U.S. standards, and every class has a full-time teacher's assistant as well. Mine was amazing! You might be beginning to think this was a walk in the park for me, but let me introduce you to my students. I had 11 boys and 3 girls...tables already turned against me, so to speak. Only 3 of my students came from homes where English is their first language. Six of my students were still receiving daily support for English language learning. Two others received special educational support. Then, we can talk about cultural background: 4 East Asian students, 4 South Asian students, 1 European student, 2 Americans, 2 bi-cultural students, and one Canadian.

On some days I was dealing with who said what bad word to whom in Korean while I was trying to make a lesson have enough visual aids to support a child who needed it. At other times, I answered countless "What does ____ mean?" questions during a lesson on whatever that I thought would be pretty straightforward. I often contemplated moving students around the room to deal with behavioral issues, but at every possible arrangement, I had to think, "How is this going to affect that student?" Usually a move of any kind would disrupt the very delicate balance I managed to hold onto. Even though the idea of a small classroom sounds nice, I think there actually needed to be more "balance" kids in the mix. There were new challenges every day of this first half of the placement, but the kids were amazing to work with. I learned that teaching is no easy task. It can make even the toughest person weak in the knees and so incredibly aware of his/her inadequacy.

Now, I will make a confession. This was the first university course I have made less than an A in (I realize that I am ridiculously nerdy), and boy, did that sting. Nothing like snapping you from the daydream that you've had it altogether academically for 5 years so you must already be an awesome teacher. Guess what? Apparently, I still have a lot to learn, and that's what was abundantly clear from this experience. Yes, the environment is one that I know and live in, but attaining excellence is a process, not a single leap that I have overnight. You know what I learned most of all though? I need my Lord so much! How easy it is to fall upon our own strength for whatever it is that we do everyday. Then...how quickly we find ourselves impatient, snappy towards to the ones we love and serve, unwilling to budge, prideful and arrogant, and so much more. As I head in to the next 8 weeks of the placement, I know there will be some things I will do differently, but most of all, I will cling to the One most capable of transforming this inadequate human into His vessel of honor.